This Day in D.C. Baseball History – The failure of signing Crow has a Silver Lining

The Washington Nationals failed to sign first-round draft pick Aaron Crow by the midnight deadline on August 15, 2008.

Aaron Crow, a right-hander out of the University Missouri was selected ninth overall in June’s draft, According to the Associated Press the Nationals didn’t want to go above the $2.1 million they gave to the 2007 sixth overall pick, left-hander Ross Detwiler, but made a final offer of $3.5 million to Crow shortly before midnight Friday. They also agreed to give Crow a major league deal – something the team hasn’t done with its first-round picks since moving to Washington before the 2005 season.

Crow’s camp countered with a request for $4.4 million, still substantially above Major League Baseball’s recommendation for that slot in the draft order. With the failure of signing Crow the Nats received an extra selection in the first round of the 2009 draft.

The silver lining is the Nationals used the extra selection in the 2009 draft to pick-up Drew Storen.who saved *43 games for the Nationals last year.